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Nuclear Flat Car Click on the photos to see larger photo. Click "Back" to return.
Nuclear Flat Car Road Number DODX38870-85 Introduction This car was built in a lot of sixteen understanding that some of the cars would be culled and some would not qualify for Merit. There were sixteen prototype cars of this type manufactured with road number DODX38870 through DODX38885. Consequently, each model car was numbered and decaled for each of the prototypes. Scratch building a car in Z Scale, the challenge is can it be built at all and if it can, can it operate. Before building sixteen of these cars, an incomplete or "concept" model was built to determine if both of those challenges could be met. The concept model proved that the car would be operational but a mold of a master car body would be the best way to construct the car body.Construction The Nuclear Flat Car is a scratch built Z Scale freight car made from four primary subassemblies. Two subassemblies are two truck assemblies consisting of two trucks each, a connecting bolster for the trucks and a platform that includes handrails, platforms, air reservoirs and brake wheels (as applicable). The construction of the truck assembly was made difficult because all of the components are very small. The handrails, mesh decks and legs are made of brass and a number of jogs were used to bend the brass. The ladder is made from 1/16" brass mesh and folded on the underside of the platform. The decals "DO NOT HUMP" are applied to each side edge of the platform, which is .060" thick. Another subassembly is the nuclear container cask made from styrene tubing, special modeling putty, leads weight and digital image cooling fins. Three different diameters of styrene tubing are used to make up the nuclear container cask with lead weight rolled up and placed inside the tubing. The lead is used to give the car weight to operate well. The rounded top and bottom is made with a two-part epoxy based modeling clay. The fins are made of standard printer paper onto which a digital image is printed. The image is created from a Microsoft PowerPoint background that is edited and reduced to the size that fits the fin size. The car subassembly is created from several masters made from styrene strips and tubing and then used to make a set of molds. Two masters were chosen to make the other fourteen cars. Please refer to the binder for prototype photos, plans, diagrams and progress photos. Detail
The Z Scale truck assembly had two brass mesh decks, two handrails, and a main handrail, center support and a brake wheel on a station made from brass. On the "B" end assembly is an air reservoir made of a styrene rod. Also on the truck assembly are two decals.The Z Scale nuclear container cask was the only part that was not difficult to build. However, the top and bottom, made of special modeling putty, was a somewhat tricky to shape as the putty, after needing, was very sticky and final shaping required that I wet my fingers to prevent "finger printing".Making the three Z Scale masters of the car body required precision construction. Only two of the three master car bodies were good enough to make castings. Once the molds were made the next difficulty was adding the brass wire for air brake rigging and applying the decals. There are ten (10) decals on the car body and all are very small. The smallest, "Lift Here, Jack Here" was especially difficult because it measured only .040" x .100", it tended to float away in the "Solvaset" setting solution from the desire location and orientation due to capillary action of water and the decal setting solution. Please refer to the binder for prototype photos, plans, diagrams and progress photos.An interesting detail is the holes in the ends of the car body. After drilling, the light colored resin was undesirable so "Grimy Black" paint was put into the lift hole with the point of a pin. The air piping is a brass rod going from one end of the car body to the other. Conformity This model is based on an article with photos from the November 2005 issue of "Mainline Modeler". Prototype dimensions were established using the available photos and dimensions in the article and then converted to a Z Scale dimensions. Some markings were not modeled because of the Z Scale size. Please refer to the binder for prototype photos, plans, diagrams and progress photos. Pertinent marking are depicted in the decals in the locations shown in the photos of the reference material. Please refer to the binder for prototype photos, plans, diagrams and progress photos.Finishing and Lettering The Nuclear Flat Car is a single color, "US Olive Drab". The trucks/wheels were airbrushed very lightly with "US Earth Red" to give a non-shinny but weathered look. There are a total of fourteen (14) individual decals on the car. The decals are homemade using Microsoft "PowerPoint" where the text was created then convert to an image using "Copy" and "Paste Special" then reduced to Z Scale size. Since all decals were to be white, the decal sheet was printed using an "Alps" printer.Please refer to the binder for prototype photos, plans, diagrams and progress photos. Scratch Building Except for the brake wheels and exempt parts, this Z Scale car is one hundred percent scratch built from stock styrene, brass and paper. Construction of the truck assemblies made use of several jigs to align the components and brass wire bending. Construction of the nuclear container cask consisted of sliding one styrene tube into another, rolling lead weight into the tubing center, molding modeling putty for the top and bottom and creating the paper fins that wrapped around the cask.Making the three Z Scale masters of the car body required precision construction. Only two of the three master car bodies were good enough to make castings. Once the molds were made the next difficulty was adding the brass wire for air brake rigging and applying the decals. There are ten (10) decals on the car body and all are very small. The smallest, "Lift Here, Jack Here" was especially difficult because it measured only .040" x .100", it tended to float away from the desire location and orientation due to capillary action of water and the decal setting solution. Please refer to the binder for prototype photos, plans, diagrams and progress photos.List of Materials Truck Assembly (2 per car)1 - Evergreen # 9060, .060" styrene sheet cut to .0625" x .500"
Nuclear Container Cask (1 for car) 1 - Evergreen #236, .500" Styrene tube cut to 1/2"
Car Assembly (1 for car)
Paint
These cars are dusty and need to be cleaned up. Some of the decals did not seal well and some are slightly crooked. Truck weathering was not very good. Some of the truck sets are not permanently attached and will come off when the car is picked up (this can be handy since the cars are difficult to place on track since there are four sets of trucks per car).
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